August 21, 2014
I talk to strangers in elevators. But not just to any stranger. I pick and choose, depending on the elevator, the mix of people, and, of course, if I have anything to say. Our time together is short and there must be some connection to our shared experience riding up or down. Not quite an elevator pitch, but a close relative. Timing is everything.
It might be Monday morning. No eager beavers on Monday morning. "Thank God it's Friday," I might say. I'm often the warm up act for the week. Read more [...]

July 9, 2011
Wally Shawn photographed for Time magazine.
This has got to be the worst photograph of Wallace Shawn I have ever seen. What were the editors of Time magazine thinking when they decided to use Peter Hapak's image for their summer reading feature in last week's edition? What? You don't know who Wally Shawn is? I know Wally and this is NOT him. Well, I actually don't know Wally personally, but I once saw him at a phone booth on the street next to the Whitney Museum, which is the same thing.
You Read more [...]

June 25, 2010
A recently discovered magazine ad fuels speculation that Steve Jobs can time travel.
This morning, in an old dusty box hidden in the corner of my attic I unearthed some old magazines. I can't remember why I kept them. But thumbing through their pages I came across this 1960s ad for Western Electric's Picturephone ® and something in the shadows caught my eye.
Steve Jobs knew Marty McFly. But more importantly, proof positive why AT&T, the descendant of Western Electric, is the exclusive carrier Read more [...]

April 24, 2010
Never say a commonplace thing.
Jack Kerouac
My name is Jeff Gates and I talk to strangers. More on that later.
We don't want our children to be fearful of public engagements. But we want them to be able to understand the risks. Illustration from an ad for online security software.
With one bona fide teenager and a proto soon-to-be teen in the house privacy has been a hot family topic. Well, only their parents seem to think it's an important issue. The girls seem totally nonplussed. And that's Read more [...]

March 14, 2010
This is the second in a series of essays on the effects of social media on organizations. The first, Confessions of a Long Tail Visionary, looked at how social media is changing our jobs. This piece continues the exploration by looking at how these changes in information delivery are changing our relationships with our co-workers.
Introduction
Social media is changing the inner workings of our museums. Like many other organizations, our hierarchical structure has historically disseminated information Read more [...]